by Lucy Smoke
He stepped forward. “Like Noah and the Ark.” Raising an eyebrow, he continued. “Like mates.”
“Exactly.”
He reached out and touched her hair. It was smooth and soft. “Where is your mate?”
“I have always preferred to be alone.”
“Really? Why?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Why are you alone?”
“Because I’m dying and it’s not nice to inflict myself on someone who will lose me.”
That was the truth. Everyone died. A perfectly healthy person could step out the door and get side swiped by a car. Wham. It’s over. But he knew he was unwell. He knew, that unless that car hit him soon, it would be the heart problem that killed him.
Maybe it made him foolish. Maybe he should have run out and gotten married and had a bunch of kids while he could, but to him, it felt selfish. Who was he to ask a woman to marry him and have his babies, knowing there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d be around to see them graduate from high school?
He couldn’t imagine it was a real turn on for some poor woman. Meet him, fall in love, get married, have babies, watch your husband die young.
Ruth continued speaking. “My vampirism tends to make me very morose. I’m not very good company. I’m not exactly mate material. And most vampires find the fact that I don’t kill humans to be odd. It means I’m always a little bit hungry. That probably adds to my general unpleasantness.”
He laughed. Truth was, he couldn’t help himself. In fact, before long, he was downright hysterical.
Ruth’s eyes got huge. “What is so funny?”
He pointed at her. “You are.”
“I am?” Looking like a landed fish with her mouth gaping open, she sputtered, “W-What about what I just said did you find amusing?”
“Your general unpleasantness.” He snickered, calming down as he felt his heart beat too fast. That was part of what sucked about his condition. He couldn’t even enjoy simple things…like laughter. “Maybe you’re just depressed because someone made you a vampire sixty-five years ago and you’ve been alone ever since.”
She glanced down at the ground. “Until I met you, I thought I was over these human emotions. You bring them all back to me, and now you’re going to die.” She stared up at him, cocking her head to the side. “Thanks for that, really.”
He grinned. “No problem.” He needed to sit down before he fell down. Waves of dizziness threatened to overtake him, and before he could blink, Ruth’s arms were around him, carrying him to the stoop he’d sat on earlier.
“You’re carrying me?”
She nodded. “I’m strong.”
“Obviously, and here I was trying to be so macho.”
“Don’t be macho, you’re dying.”
Ben rolled his eyes as she sat him down. Like he needed the reminder.
“Besides, that’s not what I like about you anyway.”
She liked him? If his heart hadn’t already been struggling, he would swear it skipped a beat at that statement. “What do you like about me?”
Sitting down next to him on the stoop, she leaned her head against his shoulder. Her hair smelled nice. He took a deep breath. It was like vanilla scented coffee. It had been years since he’d had caffeine, but he liked to smell it wafting out of the doors of coffeehouses.
“I think you are exactly the type of man I hoped to marry when I was alive.”
“Really?” He cleared his throat. That was quite a declaration. Ben felt like the ground shifted beneath his feet at that statement. “Why?”
“You’re strong—”
He interrupted. “You just carried me to a stoop to sit down. I’m not strong.”
“You are. To hang on the way you do, that’s strength. Also, you seem to have a depth of character that is very appealing. You’re kind, you’re family oriented.”
He shook his head. “Only recently. I’ve been running an investment portfolio company out of Los Angeles for the last seven years…well, in between heart issues. I’ve hardly been home.”
“You came home when it counted.”
“To let them see me for a few days?”
“You could have stayed out there, not strained yourself on a plane, had a little more time, made them all come out to see you. Probably your grandmother wouldn’t have gotten to see you at all.”
“How did you get to be so smart?”
“I’m an old woman. I’ve seen a lot of stuff.” Moving her head closer to him, she pressed her lips to his. For a moment, he was stunned. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe as her softness filled him up from the inside out. Just as quickly as it started, she pulled back.
Her eyes looked misty before she looked down. “I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. I’m a vampire. I shouldn’t have my lips anywhere near yours.”
She stood up to move away, and he grabbed her arm. She couldn’t leave. If this was his last night, he wanted to spend it on this stoop with her not moving. “It was surprising but not unwelcome. Please stay.”
Her eyebrows pressed downwards. “We’re friends, right?”
“If my body was in better shape, we’d be more than friends, Ruthie.”
Gasping, she covered her mouth with her hand. Ah damn, he’d done something wrong, something really wrong. Feeling short of breath, he grasped the stoop tightly. “What?”
She uncovered her mouth. When she spoke, her voice shook. “You called me Ruthie.”
He had. “It suits you.”
“It’s been a long time since anyone has called me that.”
Ben knew he needed to change the mood of this conversation immediately, or the lovely Ruth was going to take off again. “You know, I have no proof that you’re a vampire.”
“What?” Her eyes got huge.
“I only have your word for it. You’ve never enthralled me. You could just be a crazy person, claiming to be a creature of the night.”
She stomped her foot on the ground. “This from the man who sees ghosts?”
“Don’t knock the ghosts.”
“I’m not, I’ve seen them too.” She made a sound that was a definite harrumph. “You want proof? I’ll show you proof.”
As he watched, her upper canines elongated until Ruth stood before him with two large fangs protruding from her mouth. “Happy?”
He knew he should be scared, but he wasn’t. She appeared kind of cool. “Can I touch them?”
“Can you touch them?” She shook her head. “No, that’s gross. I don’t ask if I can put my fingers in your mouth.” The two fangs quickly shrunk, returning to normal sized teeth. “You’re an odd guy.”
“I am, but you like me because I’m strong willed.” He grinned, he couldn’t help it. It was fun to get Ruthie riled up.
“You’re also kind and handsome.”
The grin fell from his face as he swallowed past the lump in his throat. “You’re so beautiful. If I wasn’t sick, I’d be dragging you off to a hotel room to show you just how much I want you.”
“If you weren’t sick, so close to death, you probably couldn’t be with me as we are. You’d be enthralled.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Irony?”
“Seems that way.”
Just then, the front door opened with a bang. He turned that way as Ruth startled.
“Ben.” His mother stepped out onto the front porch. “What are you doing out here?”
That’s when he knew he was alone. He’d lost her again. He hoped not for the last time.
4
Ruth knew she shouldn’t be doing what she was doing. It was midnight, and Ben really needed his rest. Still, she might not see him again, and when she’d taken off to avoid enthralling his mother, she hadn’t exactly had the chance to say goodbye.
Clinging to the side of the house, she felt ridiculous. She wasn’t a cat burglar; she’d never actually done this before. But her amazing strength let her scale the wall, so she thought to give it a try. It had taken her a few minutes to locate Ben’s specifi
c window. Ultimately, she’d listened for the heartbeat that didn’t sound right.
Finally, feeling really foolish, she tapped on the glass. She heard no response, except that he rolled over onto his side, still asleep. She tapped louder and then wished she hadn’t. Biting down on her lip, she decided that not only had this been stupid, it had been downright irreprehensible. The last thing Ben needed was to be jolted awake.
He might have a heart attack. She was getting down, now.
Just as she made that decision, the window swung open, nearly hitting her. Ben stuck his head out, his eyes squinty.
“I wondered if I was suddenly in a rendition of Romeo and Juliet that no one told me about.”
She snickered and then sighed. “I’m sorry, Ben, this was really stupid. I’ll leave. Go back to sleep.”
He stepped back. “Since you’re here, you should come inside. Do you need to be invited in to pass through?”
“No, I can come in anytime. That’s just fiction that I have to be invited.”
He nodded as she crawled through the window. His room was small but well put together. The bed, double size, sat against the wall with one end adjacent to the wall. A nightstand stood next to the bed, looking like it had seen better days, with the wood on the left foot peeling. The mirrored closet was partially ajar, and a small television sat atop a folding table. It was clearly a guestroom his grandmother didn’t use very much.
“I was foolish to come here like this. You need your rest.”
“I’d like to say rest is for sissies, but I have to admit that I do.” He yawned. “Come get in the bed with me. We can talk.”
She arched an eyebrow, noticing for the first time that he wore nothing but black pajama pants to bed. She gulped. “Get in the bed.”
“Ruthie, I would pray to a thousand different gods if I thought it would give me the strength to ravish you tonight. It’s not going to happen.” His smile was sardonic and what she had come to think of as Ben’s ‘I’m uncomfortable so I’m going to make a joke’ grin. “But we can cuddle until I pass out.”
She nodded. The idea of being so close to him made her feel excited and slightly giddy. “It’s probably best anyway. I might hurt you if we were intimate.”
He pulled back the covers on the side of the bed that was still tucked in and patted the mattress. “I’m aware of how strong you are, remember? I’m the guy you had to carry like a baby.”
She moved to the bed and lay down where he indicated. “Should I have let you fall over?”
“No, that might have been even less manly.”
She laughed and covered her mouth. They didn’t need his family coming in to investigate. The last thing she wanted was for Ben to witness her enthralling his parents.
“Besides, I have to leave before morning, so I won’t be staying long. I just wanted to see you. I didn’t want to run away like that.”
Ben yawned and pulled her up against him. She could hear how his heart struggled and tried to ignore the sound. Every strained beat made her feel vulnerable in a way she hadn’t felt since the Nazi’s had ripped her from her family’s hiding place.
“Why did you come back tonight? I thought I lit you up too much.” His voice was sleepy. She didn’t know if he’d be awake much longer.
Even if their time tonight was limited, she’d always be grateful he opened his window and said lay down with me. It had been so long since she’d been held. It almost made her feel…soft.
“I needed to know if you still lived.”
“Ah.” He snickered and ran his hand through her hair, which sent delicious shivers up her back. “It was a death check, and then I happened to be outside so you thought you might as well speak to me?”
“Honestly…” She drummed her fingers on his chest, listening to the wind outside his window and the soft creaking of his grandmother’s house. “I was so unbelievably undone with relief and happiness at seeing you sit out there that for a moment, I forgot what I was and I just ran to see you like I had the right to do that.”
He jerked next to her, and she lifted her head to see if he was okay. He bit down on his lip, and she thought for a second there were tears in his eyes, but then he blinked and they were gone.
“You did have the right.” Leaning over, he kissed her hard on the lips. She gasped and lost herself in the feeling that was Ben. For a second, she knew what he would have been like if he had never been sick—strong, demanding, capable. Then it stopped, and he lay back on the pillow, covering his eyes with his forearm.
She waited in silence for him to say something. God, she really didn’t want to cause this man any more pain. She would go. Now. His other arm shot out, and he grabbed her shirt. “Don’t leave. I’m just feeling sorry for myself.”
Removing the covering from his eyes, he smiled at her. Clearing his throat, he rolled onto his side, covering her midsection with his arm. She turned until they faced each other again, his warm breath touching her face.
He ran his fingers over her face. “Where do you live?”
Grinning, she kissed his fingertip. “I don’t live. I’m already dead, remember?”
“Funny.” He rolled his eyes. “Seriously, where do you sleep during the day?”
“Thinking you might like to come and interrupt my rest like I’ve done yours?”
“Your unexpected visit tonight is the best thing that has happened to me in a long while, maybe ever. It’s my Hanukkah present.”
“I’m not that great a gift.”
He pinched her nose, and she laughed. “It’s my gift. I get to decide how great it is or isn’t.”
“To answer your question, I sleep below a mausoleum.”
He was silent for a few seconds. “That’s straight out of some vampire cliché. Why don’t you get a house or an apartment?”
“The slightest bit of sunlight, and I’m dead.”
“You could black out the windows.”
She shook her head. “How would I pay for a house or an apartment? I can’t exactly work.”
“Night shift?”
She ran a finger over his mouth, and he kissed it. “Until I’m overcome with the need to feed, and suddenly my fangs drop down and the whole place becomes enthralled? No, wait, I actually couldn’t even speak to anyone. The second I walked in the room, they would stop moving.”
“These are good points.”
She laughed. “Thank you.”
“Where is the mausoleum? Maybe I should be buried nearby.”
Gasping, she sat up. That was the most horrible thing she’d ever heard. God, she could imagine it. His name would be right there on the ground, indicating he’d been buried six feet beneath it. She would walk over it every day, knowing his body was down there decaying. Tears filled her eyes. No, she wouldn’t let that happen. She would move, immediately. It was vitally important she never know where he was buried, or she’d spend eternity walking over his grave, just to be near to his remains…
Ben spoke fast. “I’m sorry.” He struggled to sit up, and she pressed a hand on him to stop him. “I make bad jokes about this. My sister is going to kill me before my heart ever does the job.”
“I can’t see you dead or think of you that way.” Her voice shook, and she didn’t seem to be able to stop it.
He nodded as he patted the bed next to him again. “I understand. I couldn’t think of you that way either.”
She leaned down where he wanted her to go. “I am dead.”
“Not to me.” He kissed her lightly on the mouth, this time pulling back before either one of them could invest in the moment.
“Tell me more about your mausoleum. How did you find it? Did you dig the hole yourself?”
“Vampires have kind of a code. You can walk through graveyards and old abandoned homes, places like that.” She stared at Ben’s round face, hoping she wasn’t exhausting him. He looked more alert now than he had when she’d first come in. “We draw three intertwined circles.” Using her fingers, she traced the sym
bol on the bed. “It means there is a safe home down below the circle that has been abandoned. The vampire who lived there last has moved on. It makes it a little easier. I’ll draw it when I leave here.”
“Where will you go next?”
“I thought maybe down south.”
He nodded. “Warmer weather?”
“I don’t really feel the cold. It’s more like a change of scenery.”
“You should go to Santa Monica. I had a dream of us there on the beach at night. We were going surfing.”
He’d had a dream about her? She bit down on her lip before she spoke. “Only one problem with that.”
“What?”
“I don’t know how to swim.”
Ben’s brown eyes got huge as he stared at her. “You don’t know how to swim? Ahh.” He laughed and squeezed her waist. “Kill me, why don’t you? Man, if I was just a little stronger, I could teach you. It’s not like you can drown.”
He made a point. But she would probably not go, because now she would always imagine his dream of the two of them there.
“I don’t suppose you’d like to make me a vampire.”
“Oh, Ben.” The tears that threatened to spill earlier fell from her eyes, and he brushed them off her cheek. “I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. It’s an eternity of blood and never seeing the sun. I can’t do that to you.”
“Even if I want it?”
She raised an eyebrow as she sniffed. “Do you? Are you sure you do?”
He shook his head. “I’d like an eternity with you. Other than that, I’m not so certain.”
“I didn’t have a choice. I wouldn’t have picked this.”
Sighing, he stared out in the darkness. “I understand. It was just a passing thought. Forget I mentioned it.” He cleared his throat again, which made her nervous. She really hoped he wasn’t getting sick. Or, she amended, sicker. “Do you think I’ll be a ghost?”
“I have no knowledge of how these things work.”
“Maybe I’ll come and haunt you in your mausoleum.”
“I’d be grateful for the company.” She laughed; it felt so good to banter with him. “I had a dream about you too.” Oh god, why had she said that aloud?
